1. Field
Embodiments presented in this disclosure generally relate to virtual environments. More specifically, embodiments pertain to techniques for dynamically ordering a user's friends lists and for displaying avatars depicting the friends' current actions in the friends list.
2. Description of the Related Art
Multiplayer video games and virtual worlds have rapidly become popular forms of online entertainment. Both generally provide users with access to a virtual environment where they may interact with one another. For example, the virtual environment might provide a virtual likeness of each user present within the virtual environment and users may interact with one another through their likenesses. Users control the actions of their likenesses to navigate the virtual environment, e.g., achieve gaming objectives as well as to communicate or chat with other users. Such an environment may be persistent where events occur and users interact with each other regardless of the presence of any particular user. Alternatively, such an environment may be game or session based, e.g., where a group of users participate in a match of a first-person shooter game
Friends lists are often a prominent feature of these online environments. For example, a user may be allowed to “friend” another user in a virtual environment, thereby storing a relationship between the users. Such a relationship can then be portrayed in the user's friends list, which, much like an address book, displays information about friends of the user, including, for instance, the friends' user names, online or offline status, and locations within the virtual world. Most services order friends lists in virtual worlds alphabetically. Further, some services allow friends to be may be grouped into, for example, a “best friends” group. In some instances, the service may further include within the friends list avatars depicting graphic representations of each friend. In addition, some avatars may be allowed to be customizable such that the user or friend can not only select his or her own avatars, but also choose the avatar's colors, clothing, etc.
With an alphabetically ordered friends list, the user is often required to manually scroll through or search the list for particular friends. The burden of searching and scrolling is partially alleviated by grouping, but grouping requires the user to actively manage his or her friends list. Further, friends lists with avatars depicting representations of friends (including customized avatars) do not display friends' current appearances and actions in the virtual environment. Such depictions of friends' appearances and actions could convey useful information to other users that might be one basis for deciding, for example, whether to join the friend's activity.